The first mentions of pygmies were made in ancient Egyptian records dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. Later, ancient Greek historians wrote about pygmies Herodotus, Strabo, Homer. The real existence of these African tribes was confirmed only in the 19th century by a German traveler Georg Schweinfurt, Russian explorer Vasily Junker and others.
The height of adult male pygmies is from 144-150 cm in height. Women - about 120 cm. They have short limbs and light brown skin, which serves as excellent camouflage in the forest. The hair is dark, curly, the lips are thin.
Occupation
Pygmies live in forests. For them, the forest is the highest deity - the source of everything necessary for survival. The traditional occupation for most pygmies is hunting and gathering. They hunt birds, elephants, antelopes and monkeys. For hunting they use short bows and poisoned arrows. Besides different meats, pygmies are very fond of honey from wild bees. In order to get to their favorite treat, they have to climb 45-meter trees, after which they use ash and smoke to disperse the bees. Women collect nuts, berries, mushrooms and roots.
Pygmies live in small groups of at least 50 members. Each group has a special area for building huts. Marriages between members of different tribes are quite common here. Also, absolutely any member of the tribe, whenever he wishes, can freely leave and join another tribe. There are no formal leaders in the tribe. Issues and problems that arise are resolved through open negotiations.
Weapon
Weapons are a spear, a small bow, and arrows (often poisoned). Pygmies trade iron for arrowheads from neighboring tribes. Various traps and snares are widely used.
Pygmies are the most famous dwarf tribes living in the forests tropical Africa. The main areas of concentration of pygmies today: Zaire (165 thousand people), Rwanda (65 thousand people), Burundi (50 thousand people), Congo (30 thousand people), Cameroon (20 thousand people) and Gabon (5 thousand people).
Mbutis- a tribe of pygmies living in the Ituri forest in Zaire. Most scientists believe that they were most likely the first inhabitants of this region.
Twa (Batwa)- a tribe of pygmies equatorial Africa. They live both in the mountains and on the plains near Lake Kivu in Zaire, Burundi and Rwanda. They maintain close ties with neighboring pastoral tribes and know how to make pottery.
Tswa (batswa)- This large tribe lives near a swamp south of the Congo River. They, like the Twa tribe, live in cooperation with neighboring tribes, adopting their culture and language. Most Tswa are engaged in hunting or fishing.
Do you know how the word “pygmies” is translated? People the size of a fist. This is the smallest people on the planet.
Most people by the word “pygmies” mean short people living in Africa. Yes, this is partly true, but even the African pygmies are not one people. Various nationalities live on the Dark Continent: the pygmies Batwa, Bakiga, Baka, Aka, Efe, Sua, and this is not the whole list. The height of an adult man usually does not exceed 145 centimeters, and a woman - 133 cm.
How do the smallest people on the planet live?
The life of pygmies is not easy. They live in temporary villages in the forests. Why temporary, you ask? The smallest people have a nomadic lifestyle, they are constantly in search of food and look for places rich in fruits and honey. They also have ancient customs. So, if a person dies in the tribe, then he is buried under the roof of the hut and the settlement is abandoned forever.
Near temporary villages, pygmies hunt deer, antelope and monkeys. They also collect fruits and honey. With all this, meat makes up only 9% of their diet, and they exchange the bulk of their production for garden vegetables, metal, fabrics, and tobacco from people who keep farms near the forest.
Little people are considered excellent healers: they prepare medicinal and poisonous potions from plants. It is because of this that other tribes dislike them, since they are attributed magical power.
For example, the pygmies have a curious way of catching fish: first, they poison the pond, which causes the fish to float to the surface. And that’s it, the fishing was a success, all that remains is to collect the catch. No gatherings with fishing rods on the shore or harpoon fishing. After a few hours, the poison stops working and the live fish returns to its normal life.
The lifespan of pygmies is very short: from 16 to 24 years. People who live to be 40 years old are truly long-livers. Accordingly, they reach puberty much earlier: at 12 years of age. Well, they start having offspring at the age of fifteen.
Still in slavery
Africa is the most controversial continent. Slavery has long been prohibited throughout the world, but not here. For example, in the Republic of Congo, according to established tradition, pygmies are inherited among the Bantu people. And these are the real slave owners: the pygmies give them their spoils from the forest. But, unfortunately, the small people are forced to endure such treatment, since the “owners” give them the products and goods necessary for survival, without which it is impossible to live in the forest. Moreover, the pygmies use tricks: they can be “slaved” by several farmers at the same time in different villages. If one owner did not provide food, then perhaps another will make him happy.
Pygmy genocide
The smallest people have been under constant pressure from other tribes for many centuries. And here we are talking not only about slavery, but even about... cannibalism! Moreover, in our modern world, in the 21st century. So, during the period civil war in the Congo (1998-2003), pygmies were simply caught and eaten. Or, for example, in one of the African provinces, North Kivu, at one time there was a group working to prepare the territory for mining. And during the cleansing process they killed and ate the pygmies. And some peoples of the Dark Continent generally believe that the flesh of a pygmy will give magical power, and a relationship with a woman from some low-statured tribes will relieve diseases. That's why rape happens very often here.
Of course, all this affects the life of a small people: there are no more than 280 thousand people left, and this figure is decreasing every year.
Why is he so short?
In fact, the miniature nature of these peoples is explained by evolution. Moreover, in different peoples the reasons are different, this is exactly the conclusion scientists came to. Thus, genetic analyzes have shown that in some tribes (for example, among the Sua and Efa pygmies), a child’s growth limiter is activated already in the womb and babies are born very small. And in other nations (Baka), children are born normal, the same as among representatives of European races, but in the first two years they grow very slowly. All these changes at the genetic level are provoked by various factors.
Thus, poor nutrition contributes to short stature: the body of pygmies has decreased in the process of evolution. The fact is that they need much less food to survive than larger nations. It is also believed that short The tropics also “helped”: after all, body weight affects the amount of heat produced, so large nations the chance of overheating is much greater.
Well, another theory says that miniature makes life easier in the tropics, making pygmies more nimble, because in impenetrable forests this is an excellent quality. This is how evolution helped little people adapt to their lifestyle and climate.
Interesting facts about pygmies that you didn't know before
Fact No. 1. Many people believe that pygmies live in forests. However, this is not always the case: for example, the Twa pygmies live in deserts and swamps.
Fact No. 2. Moreover, some anthropologists classify dwarf peoples as pygmies, where a man’s height does not exceed 155 centimeters. In their opinion, pygmies live in different parts of the world: in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Bolivia and Brazil. Here, for example, are the Philippine pygmies:
Fact No. 3. Most of the words among pygmies are associated with honey and plants. In general, they have lost their native language and now speak the languages of the peoples around them.
Fact No. 4. Some researchers believe that pygmies are representatives ancient people, which existed more than 70 thousand years ago.
Fact No. 5. Pygmies were known back in Ancient Egypt. Thus, black dwarfs were brought as gifts to rich nobles.
Fact No. 6. At the end XIX beginning In the 20th century, pygmy children were sold to zoos in the USA and Europe as exhibits.
Fact No. 7. The smallest people in the world are the pygmies of Efe and Zaire. The height of women does not exceed 132 cm, and that of men - 143 cm.
Fact No. 8. In Africa live not only the most short people, but also the highest. In the Dinka tribe, the average height of a man is 190 cm, and a woman is 180 cm.
Fact No. 9. Pygmies even today do not use a calendar, so they do not know the exact age.
Fact No. 10. A Caucasian child aged 2.5 years is approximately the same height as a five-year-old pygmy.
And etc.; formerly supposed pygmy languages
Traditional Beliefs
Negrillian type of the large Negroid race
Pygmies(Greek Πυγμαῖοι - “people the size of a fist”) - a group of short Negroid peoples living in the equatorial forests of Africa. Another name for African pygmies is negrilli.
Evidence
Mentioned already in ancient Egyptian inscriptions of the 3rd millennium BC. e., at a later time - in ancient Greek sources (in Homer’s Iliad, Herodotus and Strabo).
Pygmies in mythology
Physical type
Among the Efe and Sua peoples living east of the Baka, small children are initially born - the growth limiter is activated during intrauterine development. Baka children are born normal, but in the first two years of life, Baka children grow noticeably slower than Europeans.
Occupation
Pygmies are forest dwellers, and for them the forest is the source of everything they need for life. The main occupations are hunting and gathering. Pygmies do not make stone tools; previously they did not know how to make fire (they carried the source of fire with them). The hunting weapon is a bow with arrows with metal tips, and these tips are often poisoned. Iron is exchanged with neighbors.
Language
Pygmies usually speak the languages of the peoples around them - Efe, Asua, Bambuti, etc. There are some phonetic differences in the Pygmy dialects, but with the exception of the Baka people, the Pygmies have lost their native languages.
Write a review about the article "Pygmies"
Notes
Literature
- Putnam E. Eight Years Among the Pygmies / Anne Putnam; With a preface and ed. B. I. Sharevskaya; Artist B. A. Diodorov. - M.: Publishing House of Oriental Literature, 1961. - 184 p. - (Travel to Eastern countries). - 75,000 copies.(region)
Links
- Culture, music and photography
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Excerpt characterizing the Pygmies
“Dr... or stupid!...” he said.“And that one is gone! They were already gossiping about her too,” he thought about the little princess, who was not in the dining room.
-Where is the princess? - he asked. - Hiding?...
“She’s not entirely healthy,” said Mlle Bourienne, smiling cheerfully, “she won’t come out.” This is so understandable in her situation.
- Hm! hmm! ugh! ugh! - said the prince and sat down at the table.
The plate did not seem clean to him; he pointed to the spot and threw it. Tikhon picked it up and handed it to the barman. The little princess was not unwell; but she was so insurmountably afraid of the prince that, having heard how out of sorts he was, she decided not to go out.
“I’m afraid for the child,” she said to m lle Bourienne, “God knows what can happen from fright.”
In general, the little princess lived in Bald Mountains constantly under a feeling of fear and antipathy towards the old prince, which she was not aware of, because fear was so dominant that she could not feel it. There was also antipathy on the part of the prince, but it was drowned out by contempt. The princess, having settled down in the Bald Mountains, especially fell in love with m lle Bourienne, spent her days with her, asked her to spend the night with her, and often talked to her about her father-in-law and judged him.
“Il nous arrive du monde, mon prince,” said M lle Bourienne, unrolling a white napkin with her pink hands. “Son excellence le prince Kouraguine avec son fils, a ce que j"ai entendu dire? [His Excellency Prince Kuragin with his son, how much have I heard?],” she said questioningly.
“Hm... this boy of excellence... I assigned him to the college,” the prince said offended. “Why son, I can’t understand.” Princess Lizaveta Karlovna and Princess Marya may know; I don’t know why he’s bringing this son here. I don't need it. – And he looked at his blushing daughter.
- Unwell, or what? Out of fear of the minister, as that idiot Alpatych said today.
- No, mon pere. [father.]
No matter how unsuccessfully M lle Bourienne found herself on the subject of conversation, she did not stop and chatted about greenhouses, about the beauty of a new blossoming flower, and the prince softened after the soup.
After dinner he went to his daughter-in-law. The little princess sat at a small table and chatted with Masha, the maid. She turned pale when she saw her father-in-law.
The little princess has changed a lot. She was more bad than good now. The cheeks sank, the lip rose upward, the eyes were drawn downwards.
“Yes, it’s some kind of heaviness,” she answered when the prince asked what she felt.
- Do you need anything?
- No, merci, mon pere. [Thank you, father.]
- Well, okay, okay.
He went out and walked to the waitress. Alpatych stood in the waiter's room with his head bowed.
– Is the road blocked?
- Zakidana, your Excellency; Forgive me, for God's sake, for one stupidity.
The prince interrupted him and laughed his unnatural laugh.
- Well, okay, okay.
He extended his hand, which Alpatych kissed, and walked into the office.
In the evening Prince Vasily arrived. He was met at the prespekt (that's the name of the avenue) by coachmen and waiters, who shouted and drove his carts and sleighs to the outbuilding along a road deliberately covered with snow.
Prince Vasily and Anatoly were given separate rooms.
Anatole sat, having taken off his doublet and resting his hands on his hips, in front of the table, at the corner of which he, smiling, fixed his beautiful large eyes intently and absent-mindedly. He looked upon his entire life as a continuous amusement that someone like that for some reason had undertaken to arrange for him. Now he looked at his trip to the evil old man and the rich ugly heiress in the same way. All this could have turned out, he supposed, very well and funny. Why not marry if she is very rich? It never interferes, Anatole thought.
He shaved, perfumed himself with care and panache, which had become his habit, and with his innate good-natured, victorious expression, holding his handsome head high, he entered his father’s room. Two valets were busy around Prince Vasily, dressing him; He himself looked around animatedly and nodded cheerfully to his son as he entered, as if he were saying: “So, that’s exactly what I need you for!”
- No, no joke, father, is she very ugly? A? – he asked, as if continuing a conversation he had had more than once during the trip.
- That's enough. Nonsense! The main thing is to try to be respectful and reasonable with the old prince.
“If he scolds, I’ll leave,” said Anatole. “I can’t stand these old people.” A?
– Remember that everything depends on this for you.
At this time, the arrival of the minister with his son was not only known in the maid’s room, but appearance both of them have already been described in detail. Princess Marya sat alone in her room and tried in vain to overcome her inner agitation.
“Why did they write, why did Lisa tell me about this? After all, this cannot be! - she said to herself, looking in the mirror. - How do I get out into the living room? Even if I liked him, I couldn’t be on my own with him now.” The thought of her father's gaze terrified her.
The little princess and m lle Bourienne had already received all the necessary information from the maid Masha about what a ruddy, black-browed handsome minister's son was, and about how daddy dragged them with force to the stairs, and he, like an eagle, walking three steps at a time, ran after him. Having received this information, the little princess and M lle Bourienne, still audible from the corridor in their animated voices, entered the princess’s room.
Pygmies were first mentioned in ancient Egyptian inscriptions of the 3rd millennium BC. e. at a later time - in ancient Greek sources. In the XVI-XVII centuries. they are mentioned under the name "Matimba" in the descriptions left by explorers of West Africa. In the 19th century, their existence was confirmed by the German researcher G. Schweinfurt, the Russian researcher V.V. Juncker and others who discovered these tribes in tropical forests basin of the Ituri and Uzle rivers. In 1929-1930 P. Shebesta's expedition described the Bambuti pygmies; in 1934-1935, researcher M. Guzinde found the Efe and Basua pygmies.
Number and population
The total population of pygmies is about 300 thousand people. . Including over 100 thousand people in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Zaire - 70 thousand. Congo - 25 thousand. Cameroon - 15 thousand. Gabon - 5 thousand. They speak Bantu languages, the pygmies of the Ituri River speak Sere-Mundu languages.
Pygmies make up the pygmy Negroid race; they are distinguished by their short stature, yellowish skin tone, narrow lips, narrow and low nose. Before the Bantu settlement, the pygmies occupied all of Central Africa, then they were forced into the region tropical forests. We were in severe isolation. Preserved archaic culture. They engage in hunting, gathering and fishing. Weapon - bow with arrows, often poisoned, with iron tip, sometimes - a small spear. Snares and snares are widely used. Developed applied arts. They retain many features of their tribal structure and roam in groups of 2-4 families.
Occupation
Pygmies eat only what they find, catch or kill in the jungle. They are excellent hunters and their favorite meat is elephant, but more often they manage to catch small animals or fish. Pygmies have a special technique for catching fish. The method they use is based on poisoning fish with plant poisons. The fish falls asleep and floats to the surface, after which it can be collected simply by hand. Pygmies live in harmony with nature and take only as much fish as they need. The unclaimed fish wakes up after half an hour without any damage.
Who are the Pygmies? PYGMIES are the people living in equatorial forests and migrating from site to site depending on the time of year. Pygmies make up the pygmy Negroid race; they are distinguished by their short stature, yellowish skin tone, narrow lips, narrow and low nose. Average duration The lifespan of pygmies is from 16 to 24 years, depending on the specific people, so evolution made sure that they quickly reached the state of an adult, albeit a short person, in order to have time to have children. They are believed to be the most ancient inhabitants of the Congo River basin. According to the latest estimates, the number of pygmies in the world varies from 150 thousand to 300 thousand people. The vast majority of them live in the countries of Central Africa: Burundi, Gabon, DRC, Zaire, Cameroon, Congo, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda and the Central African Republic.
The first mentions of pygmies were made in ancient Egyptian records dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. Later, the ancient Greek historians Herodotus, Strabo, and Homer wrote about the pygmies. The real existence of these African tribes was confirmed only in the 19th century by the German traveler Georg Schweinfurt. Russian researcher Vasily Junker and others.
The height of adult male pygmies is from 144-150 cm in height. Women are about 120 cm. They have short limbs, light brown skin, which serves as excellent camouflage in the forest. The hair is dark, curly, the lips are thin.
Pygmies live in forests. For them, the forest is the highest deity, the source of everything necessary for survival. The traditional occupation for most pygmies is hunting and gathering. They hunt birds, elephants, antelopes and monkeys. For hunting they use short bows and poisoned arrows. In addition to various meats, pygmies are very fond of honey from wild bees. In order to get to their favorite treat, they have to climb 45-meter trees, after which they use ash and smoke to disperse the bees. Women collect nuts, berries, mushrooms and roots.
Pygmies live in small groups of at least 50 members. Each group has a special area for building huts. Marriages between members of different tribes are quite common here. Also, absolutely any member of the tribe, whenever he wishes, can freely leave and join another tribe. There are no formal leaders in the tribe. Issues and problems that arise are resolved through open negotiations.
Weapons are a spear, a small bow, and arrows. Pygmies trade iron for arrowheads from neighboring tribes. Various traps and snares are widely used.
Pygmies are the most famous dwarf tribes living in the forests of tropical Africa. The main areas of concentration of pygmies today are: Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Cameroon and Gabon.
Mbutis a tribe of pygmies living in the Ituri forest in Zaire. Most scientists believe that they were most likely the first inhabitants of this region.
Twa Pygmy tribe in equatorial Africa. They live both in the mountains and on the plains near Lake Kivu in Zaire, Burundi and Rwanda. They maintain close ties with neighboring pastoral tribes and know how to make pottery.
Tsva this large tribe lives near a swamp south of the Congo River. They, like the Twa tribe, live in cooperation with neighboring tribes, adopting their culture and language. Most Tswa are engaged in hunting or fishing.
A group of peoples belonging to the Negrill race, the indigenous population of tropical Africa. They speak Bantu, Adamau-Eastern and Shari-Nile languages. Many pygmies retain a wandering lifestyle, archaic culture, and traditional beliefs.
- V Greek mythology a tribe of dwarfs, symbolizing the barbaric world. The name is associated with the small stature of the pygmies and symbolizes a distorted perception of the true ethnic group. The Greeks defined the size of pygmies from an ant to a monkey. According to various sources, this tribe lived on the southern periphery of the Oikumene - south of Egypt or in India. Herodotus attributed the habitat of the pygmies to the upper reaches of the Nile. Strabo listed pygmies along with large-headed, nest-eared, beardless, noseless, one-eyed and hook-fingered half-dogs.
There was a legend that the pygmies were born from the fertile soil layer of the Egyptian river valleys, so they sometimes acted as a symbol of the fertility of the semi-fairy lands of the south. To harvest grain, they armed themselves with axes, as if they were going to cut down a forest. Pliny the Elder claimed that the pygmies built their huts from mud mixed with feathers and eggshells, and Aristotle settled them in underground caves.
A characteristic motif of pygmy mythology is geranomachy. Legends said that pygmies fought with cranes for three months every year, sitting astride rams, goats and partridges, trying to steal or break the birds' eggs. Moreover, military campaigns, which took the pygmies three months a year, they made to the southern Russian steppes, where crane nesting sites were located. Their enmity was explained by a legend about the transformation of a pygmy girl who opposed the tribe into a crane. The symbolism of geranomachy was found on vases, mosaics, Pompeian frescoes and gems.
Another symbolic motif associated with the pygmies was heraclomachy: myths tell that the pygmies tried to kill the sleeping hero, taking revenge on him for his victory over their brother Antaeus. Hercules collected the pygmies in the skin of the Nemean lion and took them to Eurystheus. The family relationship with Antaeus was intended to emphasize the semiotic image of the pygmies, its astonic aspect. A popular technique in artistic creativity was also a reduction into a single storyline pygmies and giants.
Pygmy was also the name given to the Carthaginian deity, whose head, carved from wood, was placed by the Carthaginians on military ships to intimidate enemies.
Pygmies in Africa
The word "pygmy" usually means something small. In anthropology, it refers to a member of any human group whose adult males are less than one and a half meters tall. But the basic concept of this word usually refers to African tribes pygmies.
The height of most African pygmies is from 1 m 22 cm to 1 m 42 cm in height. They have short limbs. The skin is reddish-brown in color and serves as camouflage in the forest. The head is usually round and wide, with curly hair.
Most pygmies are traditional hunters and gatherers. They hunt antelope, birds, elephants and monkeys. For this purpose, small bows and poisoned arrows are used for hunting. Women usually collect berries, mushrooms, nuts and roots.
Pygmies live in small groups. Each tribe consists of at least fifty members. There is an area for each group to build huts. But with the threat of food disappearance, each tribe can occupy another territory. Marriages between members of different tribes are common. In addition, any member of the group is free to leave one tribe and join another tribe whenever he wishes. There are no formal tribal leaders. All problems are resolved through open negotiations.
Sources: www.africa.org.ua, ppt4web.ru, www.worldme.ru, c-cafe.ru, www.e-allmoney.ru
In the tropical forests of the Ituri province of the Republic of Congo live the shortest people on the planet - the pygmies of the Mbuti tribe. Their average height is 135 cm. Their light skin color helps them live easily and unnoticed in the forest shade at the Stone Age level.
They do not raise livestock or cultivate plants. They live in close connection with the forest, but no longer than a month in one place. The basis of their diet consists of collected berries, nuts, honey, mushrooms, fruits and roots, and their shape public organization determined by hunting.
Among those Mbuti who hunt mainly with bows and arrows, a group may consist of only three families, although during the honey-gathering season the hunters unite in large groups required during round-ups. But in the West, net hunters must have a group of at least seven families, preferably twice as many. In cases where the group already unites 30 families, it is divided.
There is enough space for 35 thousand Mbuti in the Ituri forests. Each group occupies its own territory, always leaving a decent-sized common area of land in the center of the thicket.
The group as a whole considers itself a single family. And this is the main social unit, although the group does not always consist of relatives. Its composition can also change with each monthly nomadic journey. Therefore, there are no leaders or permanent leaders. In any case, all members of the group are in solidarity with each other.
When hunting, the family is divided into age groups. The older men set traps and ambush them with darts and clubs. Young men stand at a distance with arrows in their hands, so that if the game escapes, they can kill it. And women and children are behind the young hunters, facing them and waiting for the caught game to be put into baskets. They carry baskets behind their backs and are held in place by straps placed on their foreheads. When the group has caught game for the day, it returns to the campsite, collecting everything edible along the way. Then the food is cooked over a fire.
The most heinous crime among the Pygmies is considered to be when some cunning hunter sets up nets at the time of driving in game. The main catch ends up in his hands, and he doesn’t share it with anyone. But justice is restored simply and impressively. All the spoils are confiscated from the sly man, and his family remains hungry.”
A curious Englishman, Colin Turnbull, decided to conduct an experiment. He really wanted to check how the pygmy would behave outside his forest. This is what he writes: “I persuaded experienced hunter Kange come with me to national reserve Ishango, to the savannah, which is teeming with game. We loaded up with all sorts of provisions, got into the car and drove off. Since it was pouring rain, Kenge did not even notice that the forest was left behind. When we drove out onto a grassy plain, my companion began to grumble: “Not a single tree, what a bad country.”
The only thing that calmed him down was the promise of large quantities game. But then he was upset again when he learned that it was impossible to hunt this game. When we climbed the slope and looked out over the plain, Kenge was dumbfounded. In front of him, a green plain stretched to the horizon, merging with Lake Edward. Without end and without edge. And elephants, antelopes, buffaloes, etc. graze everywhere. Kenge had never seen anything like this before.
“This meat would last for many months,” he said dreamily. I got into the car and kept getting out of it until we left the reserve. The next day, Kenge felt more confident and said:
- I was wrong, this a good place, although I don't like it. Here clear sky and the land is clean. If only there were more trees... On the way back, the deeper we drove into the forest, the louder Kenge sang. At the camp he was greeted as a hero
The Mbuti tribe are pygmies living in eastern Zaire, numbering approximately 100 thousand people and speaking the Efe language. Their dark glory as merciless hunters is distinguished by a rather peaceful way of life, compared to the warlike North Kenyan tribes. All tribes have already been discovered, because European missionaries do not leave any ethnic group without their attention.
Mbuti pygmies change their sites once every five years in order to migrate closer and closer to civilization - near roads and rivers they can change their prey in the form of skins, meat, wild fruits and berries for the achievements of cultural life they need - salt, matches, metal objects.
Mbuti tribe
They also became interested in clothing, so it is almost impossible to see their famous skirts made of leaves and tree bark. The Mbuti come into contact for such natural exchanges with the sedentary and civilized Bantu (translated from Swahili - “people”).
Bantu is a linguistic group of most of the Zairian tribes and many other African peoples, the literal linguistic name of which denotes a sedentary people, tall in stature.
Some argue that by this act the hunters atone for their guilt for depriving the forest of game and vegetation, since the pygmies have an ambivalent attitude towards hunting. It brings them joy, pleasure, and they love to eat meat, but still they believe that it is not good to take the life of living beings, for God created not only the people of the forest, but also the animals of the forest.
Children in the most early age They instill the idea of dependence on the forest, faith in it, make them feel like they are part of the forest, and therefore they are entrusted with the responsibility of kindling a redemptive fire, without which there will be no successful hunt.
The high mobility of pygmies also leads to the unstable nature of social organization. Since the composition and size of groups changes all the time, they cannot have leaders or individual leaders, since they, like other people, can leave and leave the group without a leader. And since the Mbuti do not have a lineage system, it would be difficult to share leadership when the group splits into smaller units once a year. Here, age also plays an important role in the system of government, and everyone except children has their own responsibilities. But even children play a certain role: bad behavior (laziness, grumpiness, selfishness) is corrected not with the help of a punishment system - it does not exist among the pygmies - but simply by ridiculing the offender. Children can do this very well. For them, this is a game, but through it they comprehend the moral values of adult life and quickly correct the behavior of the offender, making him laugh. Young people are more likely to influence the lives of adults, in particular, they may express their dissatisfaction with the group or approval of the group as a whole rather than individuals during religious holiday please. Adult hunters have the final say in economic matters, but that’s all. Elders act as arbiters and make decisions on the most important issues groups, and the elderly are universally respected.
The closeness that exists between the Mbuti pygmies and their forest world is manifested in the fact that they humanize the forest, calling it father and mother, since it gives them everything they need, even life. They don't try to control the world, but adapt to it, and this is the fundamental difference between their attitude towards the forest and the attitude towards the forest of its other inhabitants - fishermen and farmers. The Mbuti's technique is very simple, and other tribes that have a certain amount of material wealth consider hunters to be poor. But such material wealth would only hinder the Mbuti nomads, and the technology they have sufficiently satisfies their needs. They do not burden themselves with any excess. They make clothes from bark broken by a piece of elephant tusk, from skins and vines they make bags in which they carry children on their backs, quivers for arrows, bags, jewelry and ropes for weaving hunting nets. The Mbuti build shelters in a few minutes from young shoots and leaves, cutting them with metal machetes and knives that they receive from farmers living nearby. They say that if they had no metal, they would use stone tools, but this is doubtful - the pygmies are gradually entering the Iron Age.
The abundant gifts of the forest can be judged at least from the kasuku tree - the resin from its top is needed for cooking, and the resin taken from the roots of the tree is used to illuminate homes. The Mbuti also use this resin to seal the seams of the bark boxes in which they collect honey. Child with early years learns to use the world around him so as not to destroy it, but only to take everything he needs in this moment. His education comes down to imitation of adults. His toys are replicas of objects that adults use: a boy learns to shoot slow-moving animals with a bow, and a girl goes into the forest and picks mushrooms and nuts in her tiny basket. Thus, children provide economic assistance by obtaining a certain amount of food, although for them it is just a game.
Thanks to the sense of interdependence and community, brought up from birth, the pygmies as a single collective oppose the neighboring tribes of forest farmers, who have a completely different attitude towards the forest and consider it dangerous place, which must be cleared in order to survive. The pygmies trade with these farmers, but not for economic reasons, but simply to prevent farmers from entering their forest in search of meat and other forest products that the peasants always need. Villagers are afraid of both the people of the forest and the forest itself, protecting themselves from them with rituals and magic.
The only magical means of hunters is of a “sympathetic” nature - a talisman made from forest vines, decorated with tiny pieces of wood, or mastic from the ashes of forest fires, mixed with the fat of some animal and placed in the horn of an antelope; it is then smeared on the body to ensure a successful hunt. The idea of such a talisman is simple: if the Mbuti comes into even closer physical contact with the forest, then his needs will certainly be satisfied. These acts are more religious than "magical" in nature, as seen in the example of a mother who swaddles her newborn baby in a special robe made from a piece of bark (although now the mother could get soft cloth), and decorates the baby with amulets made of vines, leaves and pieces of wood, and then bathes him in the forest water that accumulates in some of the thick vines. With the help of this physical contact, the mother, as it were, devotes the child to the forest and asks for his protection. When trouble comes, as the Mbuti say, all they have to do is sing the sacred songs of the molimo ceremony, “wake up the forest with them” and draw its attention to their children - then everything will be all right. It is a rich but simple faith, presenting a striking contrast with the beliefs and practices of neighboring tribes.
But otherwise, the life of the Mbuti has not changed in any way; they, as in past centuries, remain the same gatherers and nomadic hunters, preserving their traditional culture.
Video: Ritual dances of African pygmies.